Although it attracts up to 6,000 customers on a Saturday -- and has been ranked the nation's third most popular farmers market in a recent online poll -- the aging and cramped site could use upgrades.

"We're trying to solve 100 years of infrastructure deficits," said Ted Lott, whose firm, Lott3Metz Architecture, designed the upgrades.

The work will not add parking -- the market's top shortcoming. But it will address some of the flooding and safety-related problems.

At the Fulton Street end of the market, the upgrades include a widened plaza and 2,000-square-foot building that will house several year-round vendors and bathrooms.

The plans also call for adding a permanent shed to replace the tarp coverings that vendors use to stay dry and shaded.

Much of the project will involve regrading the site to eliminate the steep incline at the south end of the market and the flooding that results at the north end, Lott said.

Project manager Christine Helms-Maletic said plans were to be unveiled today as project supporters start approaching major fundraisers for the work, which could cost as much as $3 million.

The public phase of fundraising will begin in May, and construction should begin in the fall of 2011.

Depending on the fundraising success, the plans could be scaled back to eliminate the wind turbines and composting toilets, Helms-Maletic said.

The plans include changes that will make it easier for customers to come and go, said John Platte, an Alpine Township vegetable farmer who helped draw up the improvements.

"I think it will definitely help," he said. "But it's really just one day a week -- Saturday -- that the parking is a problem."

IF YOU GO

To market

The Fulton Street Farmers Market, 1145 E. Fulton St., is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. An artisans market runs 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays through the end of September.

Case Visser, a Zeeland vegetable farmer, said the improvements will be welcomed at a market where his family has sold produce for five generations.

"It's really not that attractive of a place to be right now," said Visser, who estimated his family sells fresh vegetables at 15 to 20 West Michigan markets. "It's not safe in a lot of ways because of all the potholes."

Visser, who gets up at 3 a.m. on Saturdays, said he also is eager to see a covered shed replacing the frames that farmers cover with tarps.

"If you have to set up tarps, 45 minutes goes by real quick," he said. "That would take out a lot of labor."

Visser said he also is eager to sell produce from a year-round building. The market currently operates from May 1 until Christmas on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.